FBS review 2026: real costs, deposits and withdrawals, and who it suits

FBS has a real ASIC licence: AFS 426359, effective from 13/12/2012. But the register lists the name Intelligent Financial Markets Pty Ltd, ABN 48 155 185 014, operating in Australia under the trading name FBS Oceania.

The trading name does not help when you search by company name. Typing "FBS" into ASIC's search tool returns no rows, and that is easily misread as the broker making false claims. In reality the licence is real, it just sits under a different name.

The CySEC register has no company named FBS either, for the same reason: licence CIF 331/17 is held by Tradestone Ltd, the broker's European entity.

FBS holds a real licence; I traced it down to the exact line in the ASIC register, so the question “is FBS a scam” can be answered straight away: it is not a scam operation.

But for beginners, the two things most likely to give you a headache lie elsewhere: the broker's Australian licence is held by a company with no “FBS” anywhere in its name, and the stack of promotions looks sweet while the conditions are tiring to read. The broker scores 4.3/5 on the site's 6 criteria, label: low capital, lots of promotions.

Founded in 2009, headquartered in Belize / Cyprus. Licences claimed: IFSC, CySEC, ASIC, FSCA. Platforms: MT4, MT5 and its own app, FBS Trader. Spreads from 0.5 pip on the Standard account, minimum deposit 5–100 USD depending on the account type. The broker is popular with beginners in Vietnam mainly thanks to two words: low capital.

This is the part most worth your while if you plan to verify things yourself. Type “FBS” into ASIC's search tool: not a single result. A careful person can very easily conclude at this point that the broker is making false claims. That conclusion is wrong, and wrong in an interesting way.

The August 2026 AFS register has this line:

INTELLIGENT FINANCIAL MARKETS PTY LTD. AFS Licence 426359, granted 13/12/2012, NORTH SYDNEY NSW.

The licence is real, effective from 13/12/2012, it simply sits under the name Intelligent Financial Markets Pty Ltd, trading in Australia as FBS Oceania. The register stores the legal entity name, not the brand name, so to look it up you must use AFS number 426359 or type that company's exact name.

The CySEC register has no company named FBS either, for the same reason: licence 331/17 is held by Tradestone Ltd. CySEC approves exactly one domain for this entity: www.fbs.eu.

IFSC, CySEC, ASIC, FSCA, including licences from the strict group. But your rights do not follow that list; they follow the legal entity named in your account-opening agreement.

Vietnamese clients at FBS do not fall under the CySEC branch, because that entity is approved only for a European domain, so you most likely sign with an entity outside the EU. The broker segregates client funds and offers negative balance protection, while the specific level of protection, high or low, follows exactly the legal entity you sign with.

Open the registration form, scroll down to the terms, read the company name. Thirty seconds, and the thirty seconds most worth spending in the whole account-opening process.

Three main account types, each with one job: Cent for people who want to test with real money where losses are counted in small change; Standard is balanced, spreads from 0.5 pip; ECN for people who trade frequently, low spreads plus commission.

The 0.5 pip on Standard is not the lowest on the market, to put it plainly. What FBS sells is not the cheapest fees but the lowest barrier to entry.

If you trade regularly and start counting every cent of fees, work out the total cost (spread converted to money + commission) on the exact pair you trade and compare it with the ECN account; do not stop at the spread figure alone.

Payment channels: domestic banks, cards, e-wallets, crypto. E-wallets and crypto arrive faster than bank transfers, and speed also depends on your KYC status.

What I want you to stop and read carefully lies elsewhere: the bonus. FBS runs promotions constantly, and bonus money is almost always tied to a trading volume requirement before it can be withdrawn.

The scenario I see over and over: take the bonus, trade short of the required volume, place a withdrawal, get stuck, then go online complaining that the broker is holding their money.

It is not being held; it is a term you clicked to agree to without reading. A simple rule: do not click to accept a bonus until you have read all the conditions, and never deposit money just because there is a promotion.

MT4/MT5 are both there, familiar enough to need no discussion. What sets it apart is FBS Trader, an in-house app with clean controls, suited to beginners managing their account on a phone. For serious trading with EAs or in-depth analysis, you still go back to MT4/MT5.

Not a scam operation: its IFSC/CySEC/ASIC/FSCA licences can be checked, and it has operated continuously since 2009. Complaints about FBS online mostly come down to three roots: not reading the conditions (especially bonus conditions, as mentioned), blowing up the account with leverage and then taking it out on the broker, and being asked for extra verification when withdrawing a large amount, the third being a compliance procedure rather than a trick.

The line of responsibility is clear: FBS is not licensed in Vietnam. If you choose to trade there, you bear the risk yourself.

FBS suits you if you want to enter the market with the smallest amount possible and need an app that does not intimidate beginners.

You should look elsewhere if your priority is low fees for high-frequency trading, or you know you are the type easily tempted by promotions. The path for beginners, as always: small capital, low leverage, trade on trial long enough before scaling up.